Ministerial Tone

Published:PravdaNo. 53, May 23 (10), 1917.

      Published according to the text inPravda.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1964,

      Moscow,Volume 24,

      page382.Translated:Isaacs BernardTranscription\Markup:B. BagginsandD. WaltersPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      1999

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.

Theeditors ofIvestiaof the Petrograd Soviet have
    adopted a ministerial tone. They do not likePravda;they
    condemn it for its “sharp attacks against the Provisional
    Government”.

Tocriticise what he doesn’t like is the sacred right of every
      publicist. But why make oneself ridiculous by dispensing
      ministerial censure for our “attacks” without criticising the
      issues we raise? Would it not be better to analyse our
      arguments, or at least one of our resolutions, or at least one
      of our statements on the class struggle?

“Thecountrytodayis heading for ruin,” saysIzvestia’seditorial. Correct. For that very reason it
      would be unwise today to rely on the conciliatory policy of the
      petty bourgeoisie, the Narodniks and the Mensheviks, with regard
      to the capitalists. The country cannot be saved from ruin in
      that way.